Dallas Fuel, Houston Outlaws bring in-form performances to one of the league’s most engaging rivalries

Aero and the Fuel have prepared for a unique look from the Outlaws.

The Dallas Fuel plays the Houston Outlaws in an Overwatch League match in Allen, Texas on Sunday April 28, 2019. The first professional esports league to have city-based teams, the Overwatch League, held the first home games in league history for The Dallas Fuel the weekend of Saturday April 27 and Sunday April 28, 2019 in Allen, Texas.(Brian Elledge / Staff Photographer)

It started with a “See you Sunday,” from the Houston Outlaws’ Twitter account.

From there, the Outlaws and Dallas Fuel traded devastating blows on social media to amplify the weight of their first rivalry match in the Overwatch League in nearly a year, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.

It wasn’t actually that dramatic, but both franchises had fun with exchange, and that was representative of how Fuel head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins described the relationship between the two.

“The Houston rivalry is always a fun one and there are bragging rights,” Aero said.”I wish we were able to play them more because I want to stomp them more often.”

Aero was mostly playing along with the dramatics there, too, but he was excited to play them again. The Fuel had success in the last time out on April 28, 2019. His team snared a 3-1 win from the Outlaws at the Fuel homestand at Allen Event Center, which was one of the team’s few bright spots of the 2019 season.

Sunday’s match has shaped to be a big one. Both teams have played some of their best Overwatch as of late, with the Fuel (2-4) winning two of three and giving the defending champion San Francisco Shock all they could handle and the Outlaws (4-6) winning four of their previous five.

“We still go into the match like it’s any other, doing whatever it takes to win and staying focused,” Fuel tank player Lucas “NotE” Meissner said. “But I do think there’s an added level of pride that whoever wins this match gets to own Texas. It’s usually a fun match and I think everyone usually puts in 200% because the fans want to be the best in Texas.”

Aero said the rivalry did end up serving as something more than just location-based. The two teams were rivals from the Envy Gaming and FNRGFE days. The Envy team became the Fuel and the FNRGFE team became the Outlaws, and those teams had played a lot before OWL came around. Actually, Aero and Fuel assistant coach Louis “Tikatee” Lebel-Wong were with FNRGFE.

Once OWL came around, the teams shaped up a bit differently, but a lot of the relationships remained.

“When we played each other in season one it was representative of previous rivalries that already existed,” Aero said. “Both teams being in Texas was a nice little bow to tie it all together.”

The rosters have changed drastically since then, but Aero said they have maintained friendships and a healthy rivalry, making each match special.

“Just getting to play against each other makes it where everyone wants to win it a bit more,” Aero said. “When you are friends with everyone on the other team you want to rub it into their face.”

The Fuel should enter the match as a slight favorite given their match against the Shock and domination of the Justice being their recent history. While the Outlaws have won matches recently, they have yet to prove themselves against top competition. Two of their wins came against Toronto (4-5) and another against Boston (1-7) which holds the worst record in OWL.

Aero still expected the Outlaws to give a little extra based on his memory of them the last time they met.

“I know Houston prepped a lot for the last time we played them at our homestand,” Aero said. “Houston prepared a lot of unique stuff to try and throw us off and I expect them to do the same this time. I expect them to want to win and throw everything out, including things we wouldn’t look for.”

He added that, no matter the opponent, it’s been a goal of the Fuel’s to be ready to handle what opponents throw at them and be sturdy in their own strategy. They would rather play what they feel strongest on than force a meta.

If the Fuel are playing to their comfort picks on heroes, they are playing with confidence, NotE said.

“We’ve been playing in a lot of matches lately and feeling good about them,” NotE said. “I think confidence is an important thing to have. If you have that you will be playing better and be more willing to take risks and go for big plays. Overall I think confidence just influences a team.”

The Fuel even used a process this season. They will have homework sometimes to brainstorm ideas for unique play styles they could excel at. It wasn’t a crazy selection, but that’s how Fuel damage star Jang “Decay” Gui-un went about playing Tracer no matter the opponents’ counter attempts. When it wasn’t a player making a call, it was the coaching staff suggesting bizarre, but effective ideas.

Because the Fuel have done this all season, Aero felt it gives them an edge in countering a similar strategy.

“I think we do a pretty decent job of being able to address unusual gameplay,” Aero said. “We talk a lot about little swaps we can make if they are playing a weird style. In fact that’s what we are going to be going into a team meeting here in about an hour.”

They like to have their staple picks ready, but when it comes to a rivalry match, the Fuel are willing to stay outside the box.

Sean Collins, Staff Writer. Sean started at The Dallas Morning News in 2020 and covers North Texas esports, focusing on the Dallas Fuel and Dallas Empire. He covered high school and Kansas State athletics at The Manhattan Mercury. Sean graduated from the University of Kansas in 2018, where he worked for the University Daily Kansan as a sports editor covering Kansas hoops.